CFPs & jobs round-up

PhD scholarship for 3 years starting 1.10.2014 (funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation)

The Institute of Geography at the University of Neuchâtel and the Department of Psychiatry at the Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV) in Lausanne are offering a PhD scholarship for the research project “Understanding the relations between psychosis and urban milieus: an experience-based approach ”, funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation (1.10.2014-30.09.2017). This interdisciplinary research, jointly led by the Institute of Geography in Neuchâtel and the Department of Psychiatry in Lausanne, aims to better understand the relationship between the urban milieu and psychosis (see summary below).

The applicant should have a Master’s degree in human geography (or, possibly, in social and cultural psychology, social anthropology, sociology). She/he should be fluent in French (indispensable for fieldwork) and have a good level in spoken as well as written English. Skills in qualitative methodologies as well as (possibly) in quantitative methodologies are necessary. Your interest or experience in medicine and psychiatry is an asset for this position. We expect the applicant to be scientifically ambitious, to have a strong interest in interdisciplinary research and to be autonomous in her/his work. We also expect her/him to present the results of the research in international conferences and publications.

The successful applicant will be part of a research team including a series of postdocs and professors in geography and psychiatry and will benefit from the input of 3 international experts. She/he will be based part-time in geography at the University of Neuchâtel and part-time in psychiatry in Lausanne. We offer postgraduate training within the doctoral programme in geography jointly organized by the universities of western Switzerland and the doctoral seminars at the University of Neuchâtel.

The appointment date is the 1st of October 2014. The yearly salary varies between 47’000 and 50’000CHF between year one and three. Interested candidates are asked to send a single pdf-file containing:

– Your CV

– Copies of your diplomas with your grades

– A letter of application in which you state your motivation as well as your scientific and personal aims in relation with a PhD on this theme

This research aims to better understand the relationship between the urban milieu and psychosis. There is general agreement among the scientific community that the aetiology of psychotic disorders is multi-factorial, resulting from the interaction between constitutional (genetic, biological, psychological) factors of vulnerability and external stressors. Among the latter, living in an urban milieu has been identified as a potential risk factor since the first half of the 20th century. However, despite recent renewed interest in environmental aspects of psychosis, the mechanisms involved are still very unclear and various facets of the problem have not yet been addressed. In particular, there are no studies in psychiatry analysing how different factors of stress related to an urban milieu combine in patients’ everyday lives.

Building on work conducted since the 1980’s in human geography on patients’ experience of the city, we propose that understanding the mechanisms relating city environments and psychosis requires a change in scale and perspective with regards to classic epidemiological approaches. Thus, the general hypothesis on which this research is based is that an analysis of young patients’ residential biographies and experience of urban space will provide important elements and generate new hypotheses to advance the understanding of how urban milieus influence the emergence of psychosis.

The research aims to provide an answer to the following research question:

How, when and where is a sense of stress or protection occasioned in young psychotic patients’ experience of urban milieus?

The analytical frame of the research is organised around five concepts: 1. identity categorisation; 2. exclusion/inclusion; 3. social norms; 4. built environment and 5. mobility. The first three define social interaction in the city, the last two focus on specific spatial features of the experience of the city.Methodologically, the research uses mixed methods: a survey; narrative and semi-structured interviews; a focus group; and video recordings of urban practices.

Empirically, it is based on a patient cohort and their care workers involved in the Treatment and Early Intervention in Psychosis Program (TIPP), a clinical and research program focusing on the early phase of psychotic disorders at the Department of Psychiatry in Lausanne which has involved 400 patients since 2004.

The interdisciplinary research framework developed in this research, combining psychiatry and human geography, brings about the change of scale and perspective necessary to advance knowledge on the city/psychosis nexus.

In terms of its broader impact, the research will provide new orientations for urban planning, for therapeutic strategies in psychiatry and for the spatial organisation of mental health care.

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